I don't think that kind of test compresses the bottom out bumber fully. Have you bottomed out the shock yet in riding situation? So that you feel the metal clunk hard stop?
If that picture is taken with bottom out bumber still in place I'm afraid you don't have enough clearance for bottoming. I've had the understanding that in Large frame 62,5mm (for 2021 style reservoir, 60mm for older type dhx2) is the longest stroke which clears the frame. Is this XL frame?
I’ve been many times using two different shuttle companies and guides with normal bike and also explored the area with emtb. Imo if you are not familiar with the area hire a guide. I would also use shuttle to get you up to base nato even when using emtb. Otherwise you just waste time and most of...
He lists the things where the weight differences are coming from being specific about tires . I don’t really see the bias which you are refering to. IMO well made comparison and as a conclusion it’s very hard for me to see why one would buy still a Levo SL. It’s few years older more expensive...
Thru shaft relies only to active piston shim stack on damping. It feels livelier but in reality it’s harder to control damping with only active piston since it basically sees about three times more oil flow than typical passive piston on typical shock. Normally both active&passive are used...
She mentioned running 170mm on recent Sam’s bikes interview. I have been testing both stock 160mm and 170 mm air springs and IMO 160mm is better for generic trail riding. 170mm works if downhill is your main thing. Even on downhill 160mm works better in tight corners.
I think Rockshox lists different part numbers for different lower eyelets/bodies based on stroke. There are no travel spacers on parts diagrams visible so I don’t think they use them on air shocks. Coil and Fox are different.
Just to give another perspective, new Commencal Meta AM has 11% progression on linkage. That is in the more linear end of these. YT’s are usually very progressive and typically around 33%
That Spaniard had it 2.9 - 2.375 which is 18%. I would categorise it lower end of middle ground when comparing to another linkages. For sure not the best linkage ratio for coil but can be made work really well especially if you keep adjusting the clickers and shock tune is not too light. Running...
Fox shocks are all the same 230x57,5-65, their stroke is limited by internal spacers which you can buy from Fox. Rail linkage works perfect also with 230x60 shock without any modifications. RS uses different piston rod/lower eyelet for different stroke lengths. They can be also swapped. Both...
About spring preload. As little as possible without spring rattle.
What comes to the adding compression damping making the suspension feel plusher in certain circumstances is common knowledge among suspension tuners.
Damping impacts to dynamic ride height. Think about adding damping make fork...
If plush is what you are looking for you will find more of it with DHX2 than X2. They share the same damping circuits. Air spring will add more progression but also stiction.
Right spring with right amount of preload will feel good and damping is used for preventing bottoming. Running...
At least the MT500 Spray shorts wont keep you dry even in mild drizzle. MT500 waterproof trousers are better than spray’s but their shell does not last long on muddy conditions. Mine are leaking with half an year of use. How about Leatt 5.0 shorts? They advertise 28000mm pillar, should make them...
You need to close LSC clicker more (and also HSC). I have been using same shock in Santa Cruz Nomad and due to less progressive nature of Rail’s linkage it requires a lot more damping. I have learned it works best with clickers being on the heavier damped side of Fox’s recommendation table. Also...
I have been testing longer air shafts in many other bikes before and feel that stock 160mm is the perfect size for Rail. It’s rather slack and stable bike stock and longer fork will increase the wandering behaviour on uphills and makes it lazy in downhill corners. Especially if the bike has coil...